Unfortunately, CE:OD falls into some of the usual traps when boomers write a story for The Youth; which in this case is that it's generally sympathetic to it's character's struggles unless it's something they deem worthy of being made fun of, resulting in some pretty nasty fatphobic and transphobic comments during certain arcs of the game. There's one character that is anorexic IRL - and in her case, it atleast makes sense that she's got a short fuse towards the former because of her insecurity - but the gross way a male character with a virtual female avatar gets treated is absolutely unnecessary, and does make it hard to recommend if either of these things (understandably) offend you.
That being said, the other 95% of the game is really good, and the way the game uses it's setting to the fullest with all other characters is incredibly well done. Characters might seem typical one-note archetypes at first, but though I hate using the word because of how ridiculously overused it is - it's a fantastic deconstruction of the general characters you're used to, and it's fascinating how much the characters grow on you despite not seeming like they're all that at first.
Everything Overdose adds is fantastic too - being able to side with the Musicians to get a more clear vision of their trauma is incredible, and all three of the new characters added to both sides of the parties are incredible. Provided you pretend Stork doesn't exist. Trust me, it's for the best.
So yeah, it's hard to really call it great when it goes out of it's way to be so unnecessarily vile to certain characters, but I do genuinely believe everything else makes up for it if you can put up with that.
For better or for worse, this game doesn't cut any corners with it's topics - so there's plenty of characters I could painfully relate to which made the game really comforting thanks to seeing them overcome their struggles and dare to go home despite the hardships that might await them.
That being said, the other 95% of the game is really good, and the way the game uses it's setting to the fullest with all other characters is incredibly well done. Characters might seem typical one-note archetypes at first, but though I hate using the word because of how ridiculously overused it is - it's a fantastic deconstruction of the general characters you're used to, and it's fascinating how much the characters grow on you despite not seeming like they're all that at first.
Everything Overdose adds is fantastic too - being able to side with the Musicians to get a more clear vision of their trauma is incredible, and all three of the new characters added to both sides of the parties are incredible. Provided you pretend Stork doesn't exist. Trust me, it's for the best.
So yeah, it's hard to really call it great when it goes out of it's way to be so unnecessarily vile to certain characters, but I do genuinely believe everything else makes up for it if you can put up with that.
For better or for worse, this game doesn't cut any corners with it's topics - so there's plenty of characters I could painfully relate to which made the game really comforting thanks to seeing them overcome their struggles and dare to go home despite the hardships that might await them.